What's your day job?

[kellymc]

I'm a patent attorney.

I have a mechanical engineering degree as well as a law degree. I work with a venture group evaluating new technologies to invest in.

[Kyle]

I work full time as a Fire Fighter / EMT for the past 5 years and have been working as an EMT for the past 7 years. I also own a business providing onsite medical care at sporting and large crowd events and we also provide safety assessments of sites for events and teach CPR and First aid courses. I was able to start and now operate a growing business because of the mentors from my FIRST team that taught me how to put together a solid business plan with risk assessments, goals and the all important FIRST task, how to properly manage time and supplies. My business is less then a year away from 100% funding my education and projected less then 5 years away from making me my own boss.

[rsisk]

Principal Designer, Sage Software in Irvine, CA

I have been involved in software development since joining the Air Force in 1980. Worked on mainframe computers (Burroughs B2700, Univac 1100/2200), through the PC era (DOS 4.0 and beyond), Windows, web development, finally on to software design. I have been designing business software (ERP) since the mid 90s.

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

The various things I do for moolah:

High School Teacher: Physics, Robotics, American Sign Language
College Adjunct Instructor: American Sign Language
Writer (sold several short stories; first novel coming out this fall)
Beekeeper (doubling my number of colonies this spring... could get interesting!)

That's...really diverse. And cool! They offer a beekeeping class here at my university but I've always been too afraid to take it.

As for me...I'm just a computer science and psychology double degree at UMD and working on adding a minor in LGBT studies. I work in the College Park Scholars Science, Technology, and Society program as an undergraduate TA. I am currently a discussion section leader for the freshman colloquium. Last summer, I worked with my program director on a proposal to get a FIRST partnership started at the university. The director of the Maryland Robotics Institute was pretty supportive of it, but the dean of engineering was not as enthusiastic. Instead, we designed a service-learning practicum for sophomores in the program that allows them to go to a local high school and work with their robotics club. We still haven't given up on trying to get some sort of FIRST or Vex program going there, though...

In the past, I've worked as a machine learning researcher developing a system to automatically detect regional US accents.

[Brian C]

During the day (and nights as it turns out) I work for National Grid - US and I'm responsible for operating the natural gas transmission and distribution system for Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. We also operate the Gas System for a majority of Upstate NY as well.

The day/night reference is due to working rotating 12 hour shifts from 5 to 5.

I have to say it's great being able to tell people that you "pass gas" for a living

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

That's...really diverse. And cool! They offer a beekeeping class here at my university but I've always been too afraid to take it.

Don't be afraid! Beekeeping is awesome, and I really wish I got into it as a teenager (when I was first interested) instead of as a 30-year-old. The absolute worst that might happen is that you get stung, and as long as you're not allergic you'll be fine. On nice, sunny days with a heavy nectar flow (that is, lots of things blooming) I can generally keep 20 colonies without a single bee even trying to sting me. (Though on overcast days or in nectar dearths, it seems that every single one is intent on hideous me-murder!)

If you're interested, try it! If not a whole class, find a local beek and ask if you can spend a day (or an hour or two) with them in their yard. (You'll need a suit and veil of course.)

[ColleenShaver]

I am currently the Assistant Director of the Robotics Resource Center at WPI. For my day job, I get to run the robotics tournaments that take place on campus or are supported by WPI. These include an FRC Regional and off-season, FLL for all of MA, NASA Centennial Challenge, etc.

In addition to running tournaments, I also help support our competitive robotics teams on campus like FIRST and BattleBots, summer programs, and the RBE academic program as needed.

Prior to coming to WPI, I worked at FIRST for two years teaching classes in FIRST Place and managing a variety of workshops and conferences (which I often still do).

I have a BS in System Dynamics (minor in Org Leadership) and a MS in Marketing & Technological Innovation. I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that my experience in FIRST as a student directly influenced where I am in my career right now!

[S.P.A.M.er]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

As for me...I'm just a computer science and psychology double degree at UMD and working on adding a minor in LGBT studies. I work in the College Park Scholars Science, Technology, and Society program as an undergraduate TA..

That's amazing! I'm just starting to accept myself as lesbian.

As to what i do for work around High School and Varsity softball, i train horses and am working on getting an engineering inturnship with Florida Power & Light's St. Lucie Nuclear Plant.

[Michael Corsetto]

Currently, I work full time for a non-profit houseboat and water ski camp. Church youth groups bring their high school and junior high kids out on the water for week-long retreats all throughout the summer. Right now we are preparing for our summer season, hiring staff, maintaining equipment, etc.

In the summer I will be serving as Director on our Lake Shasta location, responsible for ~50 staff and lots of equipment, including 5 ski boats and 10 houseboats. Living on a boat for ten weeks, not bad

After August 19th, who knows! I have a Mechanical Engineering degree from UC Davis and no plans

Cool to hear what all of the people I've come to know on CD do IRL!

-Mike

[jwfoss]

A Clarkson University graduate of 2010, I spent just under two years working for GDEB on various submarine components in their technical rotation program. I have since moved on to a job with Parker where I am currently a tooling design engineer for roll forming as well as some automation work.

[RoboMom]

I have been a consultant in the non-profit, education, and health care worlds for many years - mostly around the areas of project and people coordination. I have a long and varied resume and have had some wonderful work experiences and real adventures. Forest ranger, commissioned officer, registered nurse, researcher, professional descriptive analyst (aka - taste tester for a very large corporation). I have a Master's Degree in Public Health.

I was recently hired for a short term (6 month) position for a very large school district.
My title is "Robotics Events Director".
How I got here has been a fun journey. I'm still not that interested in robots.

[MotorHead]

Professor of Mechanical Engineering at a community college by day. Teach pretty much all subjects as we are just a department of 3 people.

On the side, my wife and I run a small farm raising llamas, alpacas, sheep, chickens and misc. other critters running around.

So on any given day I can go from solving a differential equation to shoveling llama poop to programming a robot. It keeps me entertained to say the least.

Jeff

[nobrakes8]

Graduated from RIT in 2010 and now I'm an engineer at lockheed working on 5th generation fighter jets.

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by kstl99

... Until about 4 years ago I worked with small companies building custom automation machinery. I was surprised when I started in FRC four years ago to see how much the program is like real machine development. You find out what the customer wants (the game) and the machine specs (the robot rules). You usually start by figuring out how to accomplish the task then start thinking about the machine. You have a budget and not as much time as you would like. You have mechanical, electrical, programing, marketing, etc. One of my favorite parts of FIRST is that it exposes high school students to so many things that are found in the workplace that they have a much better idea what they would like to pursue.

My current day job is doing just that. I am in the electrical field for automation machines at a small local shop.

At night I fight crime... oh wait you didn't see that...

Actually at night, I work and don't earn a paycheck. Yah might know the company. It's new but has some great products.

[Nawaid Ladak]

I'm a senior at the University of Central Florida pursuing a B.A. in Political Science. The program provides three separate tracks for graduation, i plan on fulfilling two of them (American Politics, International and Comparative Politics). I plan on working on a campaign this upcoming election cycle and eventually find myself working in Washington D.C. for an elected official or a Political Action Committee. If that doesn't hold true, I'm also keeping options for graduate school available, specializing in either campaign management, public opinion, or urban planning.

Currently, I work part time as an inventory management specialist at Noble Communications, an AT&T indirect dealer in the Orlando and Jacksonville metropolitan areas. I handle inventory matters for all the stores our company operates. This includes phones, tablets, cases, chargers, and other various things you may find at your local cell phone store. My job is to make sure that our salespeople have the products that they're trying to sell to customers. and that the company keeps a steady cashflow while doing so.